The NFL Playoffs began last weekend with a fantastic Wild Card round.

The Seahawks stayed with the 49ers in the first half, but the Niners turned on the burners in the second half as Deebo Samuel came to life. The Jaguars pulled off a historic comeback, beating the LA Chargers 31-30 after trailing 27-0. And yet, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley is still going to keep his job. However, the Jags weren’t the only ones to make history on the night. Al Michaels and Tony Dungy were historically bad on the call. The Bills somehow gave up 31 points despite holding the Dolphins to 2.1 yards per carry and Skylar Thompson to just 18/45 passing. They managed to escape with the win. The Vikings defense absolutely imploded one last time in the 2022 season as Danny Dimes led the Giants to victory, 31-24, in the first playoff start of his young career. Ed Donatell, the Vikings DC, has since been fired after just one year on the job. The Bengals beat the Ravens 24-17, and in the wake of that loss, head coach John Harbaugh and running back J.K. Dobbins both publicly criticized stand-in QB Tyler Huntley. The vibes are awful in Baltimore, and it really isn’t a surprise as to why Lamar Jackson seems to have little interest in re-signing with them. Finally, the Cowboys absolutely dominated the Bucs in what seems like Brady’s final game in Tampa, and potentially the final game of his illustrious career.

Playoff football. Equal parts glorious and maddening, all of it on full display after just one week of play. We get to enjoy 4 more games this weekend, and in the NFL playoffs, anything can and will happen.

Let’s not waste any more time. We hope you enjoy are 2023 NFL Divisional Round Preview.

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Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs (KC -9.0)

Saturday, January 21st, 4:30pm EST on NBC

Ryan: Trevor Lawrence started his playoff career in just about the worst possible fashion. 4 first half interceptions led to Twitter doing what Twitter does best: Proclaiming that Trevor Lawrence is a bust despite his superb play in the second half of the NFL season. He made a lot of people look very dumb in the second half, as he threw 3 TDs and led the Jaguars to an improbable historic comeback. I just want it on record that I was not one of those people who doubted the Jags or was trashing Trevor Lawrence. I actually bet Jaguars money line at +1000 at the half. I just wish I had put more on it. My reason for placing that bet was mostly due to the fact that Brandon Staley is completely inept. That team is so incredibly talented, and he just gets so little out of them.

But let’s not focus on last week, let’s talk about Jags/Chiefs. I’m just going to be entirely blunt. I don’t give the Jaguars a chance in this one. The Chiefs will cover, and they will cover with ease. It is very common for teams to lay an egg after a very emotional, improbable victory. One prime example of this that comes to mind is The Minneapolis Miracle. We all remember it. It’s my favorite sports memory of all time. Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs. Touchdown. The roar of the crowd. Diggs throwing his helmet and raising his arms in triumph. Those images will never leave my mind. The next week, however, the Vikes got steamrolled. They went into a tough environment in Philadelphia and got their butts kicked to the tune of 38-7.

The similarities are there between these two improbable comebacks. Both were very emotional games. Both games were won on the last play of the game. Both teams traveled to face the #1 seed the following week in a very tough environment. The Vikings got throttled. Will the Jaguars fair any differently? I really don’t think so.

Patrick Mahomes is going to light the Jaguars up like a christmas tree and Doug Pederson and Trevor Lawrence are going to wish they were in Mexico drinking pina coladas and watching the Chargers get destroyed instead.

Score Prediction: Chiefs 41, Jaguars 17

Ben: In their only meeting this season, the Chiefs took care of business on home turf, beating the Jaguars comfortably. They did this in spite of an early head injury which sidelined Juju Smith-Schuster for the rest of the game, the Jaguars recovering an onside kick to open the game, and Trevor Lawrence playing a pretty good game. As expected, Patrick Mahomes cut apart the Jaguars’ shoddy secondary like a hot knife through butter, passing for 331 yards, throwing for 4 touchdowns (each one to a different receiver), completing 26 of his 35 passes, and just one interception. A key reason for the Chiefs’ victory on that day was the ability of KC’s defense to stop the run, with Jacksonville lead back Travis Etienne Jr. rushing for just 45 yards on 11 carries. Granted, since that Week 10 matchup, Etienne and the Jags have come on leaps and bounds, winning 6 of their last 7, a mark which includes their incredible comeback from down 27-0 against the Chargers in the Wild Card round last weekend. Doug Pederson and the Jags may be heavy underdogs, but no one can dispute that this exciting young team is entering this divisional round playoff game firing on all cylinders.

If the Jaguars can establish the run early on and keep Mahomes’ lethal offense off the field for as long as possible, all they’ll be doing is prolonging the inevitable. I’m envisioning a close game throughout, but Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs have too much playoff experience and too much talent to lose this one.

Score Prediction: Chiefs 28, Jaguars 20

New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (PHI -7.5)

Saturday, January 21st, 8:15pm EST on FOX

Ryan: Daniel Jones has arrived, ladies and gentlemen. I don’t want to toot my own horn too much, but I called him taking this step before the season when everyone else was giving up on him. You want proof?

That was from our NFL Preview Blog. Give me my credit!

In his first playoff start, Daniel Jones was magnificent. The 2022 Vikings defense was pitiful, but that takes nothing away from what Daniel Jones did last weekend. He played a clean, turnover free game, threw for 300 yards and 2 scores, and ran for 80 more. His legs are his biggest weapon. He can’t just simply be a pocket passer. When he uses his athleticism, he is a very good NFL QB that is capable of having a long, successful career.

These two teams met twice in the regular season as division foes. The Eagles won 22-16 in the final game of the regular season (although the Giants didn’t play their starters), and they also beat the Giants down to the tune of 48-22 just 4 weeks prior at MetLife Stadium. The Giants, however, are now coming off the high of winning their first playoff game since the team won the Super Bowl in 2011. Daboll will have his guys ready to play. This game will be tight.

With all that being said, people are FAR too low on the Eagles coming into the playoffs. This is a team that was 13-1 before Jalen Hurts got injured. He gets hurt, the team becomes bored and a bit unmotivated, they lose to a very good Cowboys team, then lay an egg against a bad Saints team, and then barely beat the Giants reserves. I get why people are hesitant, but let’s not let the last 3 weeks change the narrative as to how good this team was for the first 14 games. Jalen Hurts gets hurt and the team falls off. Yes. That’ll happen to any elite team with a star QB. The Chiefs would suck without Mahomes. The Bills would suck without Allen. And so on and so forth. The bye week is going to do Jalen Hurts and the Eagles wonders. I fully expect Jalen Hurts to play a phenomenal football game and for the Eagles to advance to the NFC Championship Game, but it will be much closer than Vegas is making it out to be. Giants +7.5 is probably my favorite bet of the weekend.

Score Prediction: Eagles 23, Giants 21

Ben: This prediction is going to ruffle some feathers. Yes, the Eagles were a fantastic team in the regular season. Yes, the Eagles beat the Giants twice during the regular season. Yes, they’re more talented than the Giants at pretty much every position on the field. However, this Giants team has an intangible quality about them, one which is manifested in Big Blue’s refusal to bow down to their opponent. The Giants refuse to go away, refuse to die, refuse to give their opponent anything less than 60 minutes of hell on the gridiron.

Last week, Daniel Jones had the best performance of his young career, throwing for 301 yards and 2 touchdowns, completing 24 of his 35 passes, and rushing for 78 yards on 17 carries. That last number might stick out as unusual, but a hefty portion of those carries were designed QB runs, not scrambles. Giants head coach Brian Daboll has implemented a great deal of his successful playbook from his time as offensive coordinator in Buffalo, and designed QB runs were just as big a part of his strategy then as they are now. With Jones lining up alongside Saquon Barkley, the star running back who found the endzone twice last week in their Wild Card victory against the Vikings, Daboll’s team has a legit dual threat rushing attack. The run game is particularly important in playoff situations, since the team which rushes for more yards has won roughly 75% of all playoff games in NFL history. Despite their label as a big market team, the top performers on the Giants have been largely unheralded by the national media. For instance, wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins was plucked from the Bills’ practice squad prior to the Giants’ Week 10 matchup against the Houston Texans, and he’s quickly emerged as a top option in the passing game. He finished the regular season with 37 catches and 4 touchdowns in just 8 games, and last week in Minnesota, Hodgins played through a gruesome ankle injury to rack up 105 receiving yards on 8 receptions, one of them going for a touchdown.

Hurts missed two games near the end of the season before returning for week 18, but he clearly wasn’t at full health. Hurts should be near full health for this one, but I expect Hurts to be rusty, and by extension of his integral role in the Eagles offense, I expect them to struggle on that side of the ball, especially against a Giants defense which has looked fearsome in recent weeks. I’m picking the G-Men to beat their bitter rivals in yet another gritty, hard-fought upset.

Score Prediction: Giants 24, Eagles 20

Cincinatti Bengals at Buffalo Bills (BUF -5.5)

Sunday, January 22nd, 3:00pm EST on CBS

Ryan: First off, I just want to say that this game being played in Buffalo is an absolute sham by the NFL. If the Bills and the Chiefs both win this weekend, the AFC Championship Game will be played in Atlanta as the Bills would’ve been the number 1 seed if they had beaten the Bengals in the cancelled game due to Damar Hamlin’s injury. The logic for this makes complete sense. The neutral site is the only equitable way to deal with this unprecedented event. Great job by the NFL.

BUT THEN THEY JUST THREW OUT THAT EXACT SAME LOGIC FOR THIS BILLS/BENGALS MATCHUP?!?!?! If the Bengals had won that cancelled game (which was being played in Cincinatti, for what it’s worth), the Bengals and Bills both would have finished at 13-4 and the Bengals would get the #2 seed because they would have beat the Bills head-to-head. In that scenario, this weekend’s game would be in Cincinatti. But the NFL just threw out their own logic and have handed the Bills a home playoff game. Look for Cincinatti to be playing with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder early on in this one.

With that out of the way, this is the game of the weekend, in my opinion. Two young, uber-talented QB’s who will be running the AFC, along with Mahomes, for a long time to come. Both offenses have elite playmakers on the outside with Stefon Diggs for the Bills and Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins for the Bengals. Both offenses get a lot of the credit, but both defenses are also very solid groups. The Bills defense allowed the second fewest points per game this season, while the Bengals defense allowed the 5th fewest. Alot of people are screaming to take the over (O/U is at 49), but I disagree. I’m not saying take the under, I’m just saying that I don’t like the over as much as most. These defenses can absolutely hang with the offenses. Josh Allen has been incredibly mistake-prone this year, including 3 more turnovers last week, and the Bengals really struggle to keep Joe Burrow upright.

The Bengals will use that anger of the NFL’s flawed logic to propel themselves to victory as Jessie Bates picks off Josh Allen to seal the deal and send the Bengals back to the AFC Championship Game for the second consecutive year. The Bills storied playoff failures will once again haunt this incredibly talented team.

Score Prediction: Bengals 27, Bills 24

Ben: Many expect this to be the game of the weekend, and I’m inclined to agree with them, especially since I’ll be in attendance. As I write my part for this article, I sit on the runway at Detroit Airport in a stuffy plane bound for Buffalo, many people around me proudly wearing their Bills gear as we eagerly await takeoff. I haven’t seen a Bills home game in over 16 years, so believe me when I tell you that I’m excited for Sunday. Irrelevant sappy stuff aside, this is certainly an intriguing matchup for a few reasons. First and foremost, this game showcases two of the NFL’s best offenses, and arguably two of the NFL’s best teams in general. Joe Burrow and Josh Allen are both elite QB’s, and this is the first playoff game between these two talented signal callers in their young careers. However, another similarity when it comes to the Bills and Bengals is that both of these teams struggled in games they were expected to dominate during last week’s Wild Card round.

Last Sunday afternoon, the Bills offense was sloppy, with Allen in particular having as many boneheaded moments as he did brilliant ones. The Dolphins, led by third string rookie Skylar Thompson under center, took advantage of the good field position they were offered time and time again to put up an impressive points tally against one of the league’s best defenses. In part due to some costly false start penalties, timeouts taken due to the play clock running out, and a delay of game penalty in the fourth quarter – all of which can be attributed to the ever-boisterous Bills Mafia cranking up the noise when the Fins had the ball – Miami didn’t quite have enough in the tank to pull off the upset, falling to their divisional rivals 34-31.

Then, Sunday night, the Bengals had their own problems with a divisional rival and their backup QB. Tyler Huntley played arguably the best game of his career, leading the Ravens offense downfield with a good mix of tricky run plays and short pass plays, a time-consuming offensive output which kept Burrow off the field for long stretches of the game. The Ravens might have been able to win if not for a backbreaking 14-point swing play which is sure to go down as one of the greatest plays in Bengals history. Huntley fumbled on the Bengals’ goal line whilst attempting a QB sneak from the 2-yard line (nice playcall, Greg Roman), and that fumble was returned 98 yards by Sam Hubbard for a TD. Further, Baltimore’s defense made Joe Burrow’s life absolute hell when Cincy had the ball behind their powerful pass rush and talented secondary. Joe Burrow was sacked 4 times for -26 yards and finished with just 209 passing yards and a single touchdown pass, a meager sum of offensive production by his lofty standards. Eventually, the Bengals were able to seal the deal in the jungle, emerging as 24-17 victors on the night.

Both of these Super Bowl contenders drastically underperformed given their lofty expectations, and both were nearly eliminated from the playoffs without winning a single game to show for it. And yet, here they are, set to square off in Buffalo on Sunday afternoon. My verdict? I can’t see the Bills losing at home in a crucial playoff game. Josh Allen will shut up his many critics by bouncing back to his typical playoff best, leading the Bills to victory in a high scoring affair.

Score Prediction: Bills 38, Bengals 31

Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers (SF -4.0)

Sunday, January 22nd, 6:30pm EST on FOX

Ryan: First and foremost, I owe an apology to the Dallas Cowboys. I picked against them last weekend because of their awful playoff past and the fact that Tom Brady was on the opposing sideline. I picked against them even though they were the much better team on paper. I will not make that mistake again. I will be taking the better team on paper in this one, and that is the San Francisco 49ers.

Brock Purdy has to slow down at some point, right? He has to make that crucial rookie mistake at some point, right? Wrong. Kyle Shannahan is a world class offensive mind. And when the best offensive play caller in the league also has the best skill position players in the league, that’s a recipe for really long day’s for opposing defenses. This is the reason why Brock Purdy doesn’t have to slow down. Watch the 49ers play. Brock Purdy isn’t throwing into incredibly tight windows. He’s not throwing to guys that are tightly covered. He looks for one or two options, and if they aren’t there, he makes a play with his legs, but generally the first or second option are open, like really open. Why? Because Kyle Shannahan’s schemes work to perfection. Because George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Christian McCaffery are all elite players in this league. Shannahan has simplified the game for Purdy, and Brock has all the talent in the world around him. That’s why he doesn’t have to, and simply won’t, slow down.

The Cowboys offense has to be firing on all cylinders if the Cowboys are going to win this game. Against the best defense in the league, that will not be an easy task. The Cowboys need to run the ball well and control the clock. They need to establish both Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard early and keep feeding them both all game long. If those two don’t combine for 40-45 carries, the Cowboys won’t win this game. I’ll say it again, the Cowboys MUST win the time of possession battle. They have to keep McCaffery, Samuel, and Kittle on the sidelines. Pound the rock and let Dak pick up the big first downs. That’s the recipe for the Cowboys to win this game. It’s a tall task to win in San Francisco, but the Cowboys are capable of it.

Score Prediction: Niners 31, Cowboys 23

Ben: The rematch that absolutely nobody wanted apart from the massive fanbases of each of these legendary franchises. However, we’ve come a long way since the glory days Joe Montana and Steve Young powering the Niners, as well as the Cowboys dynasty of the 1990’s led by Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith. Dallas’ playoff failures since then have been well documented given their reputation as America’s (most hated) team, but not many people talk about San Francisco’s many playoff disappointments since the turn of the century. In the last decade alone, the Niners lost Super Bowl 47 against the Ravens in that famous Harbaugh vs Harbaugh head coaching battle, Super Bowl 54 against the Chiefs after giving up 21 fourth quarter points in a dramatic late collapse, and lost in the NFC Championship last season against their hated in-state rival when a litany of self-inflicted wounds allowed the Rams to advance to a Super Bowl they would go on to win.

In the wild card round, the 49ers trotted back to the locker room at halftime down 17-16 to Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks. However, after the break, their offense finally shifted into high gear, and led by Mr. Irrelevant-Turned-Relevant behind center, Brock Purdy and the Niners put up 24 second half points while the defense turned up the heat to help them win by a score of 41-23.

On Monday night in Tampa Bay, the Cowboys made easy work of a Bucs team which was frankly very bad. That’s not me being hard on the Cowboys, that’s me being hard on Tom Brady, who was absolutely putrid in what might be the final game of his illustrious career. While it was simple enough for the Cowboys defense to get stops, the Cowboys offense stole headlines. In fact, given the stakes, Dak Prescott might have played the best game of his entire career. Dak completed 25 of his 33 pass attempts for 305 yards and 4 touchdowns without throwing a single interception. He didn’t put a foot wrong all game, and he deserves a ton of overdue credit from those who have doubted and criticized him all season. After a shaky end to the regular season, the Cowboys look to be back to their best, playing dominant and efficient football on both sides of the football.

Dak and the Dallas offense will face their toughest test this season against the league’s best defensive unit, and while I expect the Niners to force a turnover or two, that isn’t my main concern regarding the Cowboys’ ability to score points on Sunday. To put it mildly, I’m scared for Brett Maher. Missing four straight extra points in the Wild Card (yes, he really did that) isn’t something you just move on from. In a road game against such a strong defense, I expect the Cowboys to be forced to settle for field goals, but I don’t expect Maher to make them.

Score Prediction: Niners 31, Cowboys 21

Who’s moving on, and who’s going home? Comment down below!

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Authors: Ben Pawlak and Ryan Macdonald

Published: 1/21/23 at 11am EST

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Sources/Works Cited:

Google Images, Google, https://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en.

Sports Reference LLC. Pro-Football-Reference.com – Pro Football Statistics and History. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/. 22 January 2022.

StatMuse, https://www.statmuse.com/.